Astros notes: Lopez, Towles return to action

A fine start

Brad Mills was worried about Wednesday’s game, but not for any of the reasons that turned out to be their undoing. In fact quite the contrary.

After pondering what he would do with a short bench in the absence of Carlos Lee and the possibility of first-time starter giving him a short outing, Mills had to struggle with no such thing.

Aneury Rodriguez was superb, holding the Reds scoreless on one hit in five innings. The hit was a Chris Valaika triple that sent Hunter Pence spinning back toward the wall, and Rodriguez managed to escape that. Perhaps as impressive was that he made it 83 pitches after throwing no more than 36 in any of his relief appearances.

“I felt strong because I was throwing a couple days ago working on it, and I was ready,” Rodriguez said. “I tried to get fastballs down and away for strikes and everything was good.”

The tall 23-year-old worked off a fastball in the low 90s and mixed in a slider and an occasional changeup to lefties. The two lefties in the Reds’ lineup, the potent Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, went a combined 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Rodriguez, whom the Astros plucked from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Rule 5 draft last December, had been a starter almost his entire six-year minor-league career. However, when the Astros selected Nelson Figueroa as their No. 5 starter and needed to keep Rodriguez on the roster to avoid returning him to the Rays, they gave him nine appearances out of the bullpen until they pulled the plug on Figueroa’s starting tenure.

“I know he was pumped and he was excited about getting out there and getting his first major league start, and he took it and ran with it and did a great job,” Mills said.

And his first major league win was only three outs away.

Injury updates

Jason Michaels, who is on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 25, took swings for the first time since separating his shoulder in a game against the Brewers. Michaels will take batting practice today and Friday, and then the Astros will re-evaluate his condition to determine whether and where he goes on a minor league rehab assignment. … Carlos Lee was unavailable for the second straight game as he has not healed from the bruise he sustained in a collision with Angel Sanchez on Sunday. Lee could begin swinging the bat as soon as today, though because of the nature of the injury, throwing is expected to be a bigger challenge. … J.R. Towles was back in the lineup as he had sufficiently healed from a persistent ankle injury. Towles went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk but will be out of the lineup again today as Humberto Quintero catches Brett Myers as usual.

Odds and ends

Brett Wallace saw his 11-game hitting streak come to an end with an 0-for-4 afternoon. Wallace, hitting for the second straight game in the cleanup spot, struck out twice and hit into a double play to end the Astros’ two-run third. … Wilton Lopez had a successful first game back from the disabled list and said that his right elbow, which had been affected by nerve irritation, felt good. Lopez threw a hitless sixth inning around a rare walk as Brad Mills said he wanted to give Lopez some time early in the game before putting him back in a late-inning role.